Obituary

Cos Georgia was an adventurous, irreverent soul, full of humor, wisdom and w...
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Remembrance: Willis Scudder Georgia, III

Willis Scudder Georgia III (commonly known as Cos)

September 18, 1949 – May 6, 2020

Cos Georgia was an adventurous, irreverent soul, full of humor, wisdom and wit.

Son of W. Scudder Georgia, Jr., a CIA officer, and Gladys Georgia, an art teacher, he spent his childhood living in Washington, D.C, Germany and London – where, fresh off the boat at the age of 12, he took his younger brother and sister on a several-hour tour of the Underground, utterly unconcerned that his parents and the police were frantically searching for them.

He studied photography and printing at Rochester Institute of Technology, and then he built, staffed and ran the award-winning Shenandoah Valley Press in Strasburg printing Newsweek and other magazines. They were printing the Newsweek issue during the 1980 election, and they had five possible covers -- one each for narrow or broad Reagan or Carter victory, and one if something prevented a conclusive result that night. They were ready to go with one cover, and then the word came in -- "Hold the presses, Ohio is recounting!" Cos said he saw Carter's teeth whenever he closed his eyes for a month afterwards. He could party with gusto, but when work called he gave his all, and his standards were high, whether in printing or his later career as a certified financial planner.

Cos was a man of soaring spirits who loved to fly. As a pilot, he used to do practice landings at Dulles Airport when it was a lonely runway in the middle of the countryside, and the bored air traffic controllers would beg him to come in and have coffee with them. Also a balloonist, he once took an unplanned voyage underneath his balloon when his glove got stuck in the rigging, and another time allowed his infant daughter to “solo” -- putting her in the untethered basket while he and his crew let go of it for a fraction of a second and then grabbed it again.

Cos charmed people with his off-beat sense of humor, and he could talk his way into – and out of – almost anything. His eulogies at his own parents’ funerals were essentially stand-up routines, which had the mourners laughing through their tears. His conversation delighted everyone who had the chance to hear him, from his family and friends to his work colleagues to the faithful Uber and Lyft passengers he enjoyed ferrying around in his retirement.

He had a series of beautiful Himalayan cats and dachshunds – one of whom he named “Scudder” after he realized there would be no son to carry on the family name, which caused no end of confusion when he took the dog to visit his parents.

But his greatest pride and joy were his daughters, Christina and Celena Georgia, born three years and 3 hours apart on New Years Eve – “Daddy’s Little Tax Deductions,” he used to call them. He taught them everything he knew, which was everything in what he called “the common knowledge” plus many arcane and fascinating facts. He then watched with delight and gratitude as they blossomed into smart, capable and successful young women.

He will be sorely missed by them, his brother Dr. Jeffrey Georgia, his sister Dr. Jennifer Georgia, his former wives Anita Georgia and Anne Hoover Schrott, and many other family, friends, colleagues and others whose lives he touched.

He had a phrase from the girls’ childhoods he used to use to say farewell, whether at the end of a text, a phone call, a letter or a visit: LYITW or “Love You in the World.” There is no better way to sum up the size of his heart.

Love you in the world, Cos.

We’ll miss you.

Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to The Air Care Alliance (https://www.aircarealliance.org/).

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